Alpha Team Guide

Session 1

Is There More to Life

Than This?
Admin
1. Ensure that you have registered everyone in the group and that each person has a
name badge.
2. Serve drinks and snacks before beginning the discussion.
3. Introduce yourself and welcome everyone to the group.
4. Explain the format for each session and the number of sessions.
5. Highlight: no pressure, no follow up, no charge.
6. Explain the format and purpose of the small group discussion.
7. Reassure the guests that you always finish on time.

Icebreakers
These games will enable the group to remember each other’s names and get to
know one another.

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 Section 2 Small Group Questions

Name Game
• “Everyone think of a positive adjective that starts with the same letter as your
first name” e.g., “Jovial John” or “Happy Helen” OR “Everyone think of a famous
person with the same first name as you” e.g., “Justin Bieber,” “Sandra Bullock.”

• Start with the person on your left. They must say their name and positive
adjective or celebrity name. The next person must say their name and adjective
or celebrity name and that of the person before them.

• Each person must try and repeat all the names of the guests preceding them from
memory. The host is the last person to go and repeats the names of everyone in the
group.

• Be quick to help any guests who might find this more difficult.

Desert Island Game (if you have time)

• “If you were stuck on a desert island and you could take one thing (not a
person) with you, and you already have the Bible and the complete works of
Shakespeare, what would you take?”

• OR “Which person from history would you like to be stuck in an elevator with,
and why?”

“How and why did you end up coming here today?”

• This gives the rest of the group permission to say what they really think. Try to
draw more out of guests if they are a bit hesitant. Start with the guest you think
is most reluctant/hostile about doing Alpha to encourage other guests to open
up and be honest.

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Alpha Team Guide

Session 1

“If it turned out there was a God after all, and you could ask
one question, what would it be?”
• Encourage guests, “These are great questions.”
• Write the questions down on a piece of paper with a view to coming back to
them at the end of Alpha.

Finish on time and carry on discussion elsewhere (e.g., café) for those who want
to.

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 Section 2 Small Group Questions

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